Bidets are used by many for personal hygiene. However, they take up valuable space in restrooms and are rather costly. To alleviate these problems, many bidets are integrated into toilets, either as an add-on kit, or at the time of manufacturing. In such a combination toilet and bidet, the bidet portion includes a tube that is either fixed in place in the toilet or, more commonly, movable so as to be out of the way when the toilet is used to dispose of bodily wastes, and to be movable at a suitable location when used for cleaning purposes.
By their nature and position, such tubes can relatively easily become soiled by bodily wastes. Because of their configuration, they are relatively difficult to clean thoroughly. Some prior art bidets are retractable from the toilet bowl through an aperture located substantially adjacent the upper edge of the toilet bowl. However, these bidets usually include a retraction and deployment mechanism that is rather costly and prone to malfunction.
Against this background, there exist a need for a new and improved bidet. It is a general object of the present invention to provide a new and improved bidet.